Google Board Member Ann Mather to Face SEC Violation Proceedings

It appears that one of Google’s board members is in hot water with the Securities and Exchange Commission. According to the National Post, Ann Mather has been notified by the SEC that it plans to recommend civil action against her for her role in the Pixar stock option backdating scandal.

Google said the SEC told Ms. Mather it would recommend alleging securities law violations related to certain stock option transactions at Ms. Mather’s former employer, Pixar Animation Studios. Google said the case does not involve her services as a Google board member.

Mather might be the third executive to get thrown under the bus caught up in a Steve Jobs-related SEC violation, but she’s not Google’s first exec to run into SEC trouble. Last year, the company’s Chief Legal Counsel settled a $700,000 complaint with the SEC for his previous role as CFO for SmartForce.

http://www.quantumleaders.com Gregg Gallagher’

Andy:

Enjoy your writing – including your book, but have to call you on your use of the phrase “caught up in a Steve Jobs-related SEC violation”.

My recollection is that the stock option post-dating mess became public knowledge before the particular situation at Apple, and certainly continues on to this day.

Actually, Steve Jobs bought Pixar from Lucasfilm in 1986 to and sold it to Disney in 2006. Mather was the CFO from 1999 to 2004. Both Apple and Pixar have been accused of backdating since at least 2001.

According to the article cited above, the incident took place prior to 2006, but Mather was only just informed that she might face civil action. Although Jobs has been cleared of wrongdoing in this situation, I think it’s a bit too big of a coincidence not to mention.

(And besides that, how many times have we seen someone insulate themselves so well from wrongdoing that there’s just no evidence left? Okay . . . maybe I watched All the President’s Men one time too many this weekend. . . .)